Judge decides to keep name secret in Jackson case

Judge decides to keep name secret in Jackson case By The Record Staff 6/18/04 The judge in the Michael Jackson child molestation case has decided to keep secret the name of a person prosecutors unsuccessfully tried to hold in contempt for violating a gag order. Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville cited Jackson’s right to a fair trial and the need to keep secret the anonymity of the minor accuser as reasons for not releasing an unedited version of the contempt request. Melville has consistently cited these reasons for either sealing or heavily editing documents in the case – grand jury transcripts, details of the indictment against the singer and numerous search warrants. Correspondence between the defense and prosecution in the Jackson case were also released Thursday. Much of those documents dealt with the sharing of evidence between the sides, though there was one paragraph in which District Attorney Tom Sneddon accused Jackson of possibly violating the gag order by having an off-the-air talk about the case with television anchor Geraldo Rivera. However, Jackson is not believed to be the person prosecutors wanted held in contempt. Jackson, 45, has pleaded not guilty to engaging in lewd acts with an unnamed boy under the age of 14 on four occasions between Feb. 7 and March 20, 2003, and four counts of “administering an intoxicating agent” – reportedly wine – to help him with the alleged molestations. He also has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge involving child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion and a count of attempted child molestation. Source: http://www.lompocrecord.com/articles/2004/06/18/news/news13.txt